PART V. CEREMONIES AND COSTUMES. CORONATIONS; OPENINGS, PROROGATIONS, AND INSIGNIA OF THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD, SECTION I. CEREMONIES. "Pageants on pageants in long order drawn, POPE. To furnish the reader with a brief view of some of the more important public ceremonies, without entering too minutely into those details which occasionally acquire an extrinsic interest from temporary causes, is the purpose of this section of the volume. The subject has been noticed under the three heads of "Regal," " Parliamentary," and "Knightly" Ceremonies. In the first, a short description has been given of a Coronation; in the second, is detailed all matters relating to the opening, the prorogation, or dissolution of the Legislature, the Royal Assents, Messages, and Conferences; while under the third head the Ceremonies of Installation and Investiture have been noticed, with reference to each of the Orders of Knighthood, in succession. CORONATIONS. "In pensive thought recal the fancied scene, See coronations rise on every green; Before you pass th' imaginary sights Of lords, and earls, and dukes, and garter'd knights." POPE, Epistla THE splendid and impressive ceremony by which our monarchs are inaugurated, possesses a character of the highest interest in the eyes of every British subject, although the exact nature of that interest may be as various as the spectators of the ceremony. The antiquary luxuriates in the quaint, yet expressive, formalities which stamp its ancient origin; the admirer of our government in church and state glories in the monarchy as an institution, and honours the Sovereign as its type and representative; the philanthropist rejoices in the kindly feelings and the relief from care pourtrayed in the joyous animation of assembled thousands; while the professed sightseer is regaled with a display of gorgeous pageantry which he scarcely hopes ever to see equalled, and in which he feels that he personally enjoys an important share; since a show without spectators would lose its identity, or, as Johnson forcibly expresses it, "magnificence in obscurity is as useless as a sundial in the grave." To impress the monarch with a due sense of the weighty duties he has undertaken, when the happiness of whole nations is confided to his care, and to afford his subjects an opportunity of openly acknowledging their Sovereign, by universal homage, are among the important objects attained by the imposing rites of the coronation ceremony: a ceremony where the representatives of the most powerful sovereigns on the earth vie in glittering grandeur with the native nobility-with "The abstract of this kingdom, In all the beauty, state, and worth it holds." The last two Coronations which this country witnessed, although possessing many features in common, both differed in an important particular from that which preceded them; for, as is well known, since the reign of George IV. we have had no coronation banquet. The other portions of the ceremony did not, however, differ materially; and as far as the limits of this work will allow, the following may be taken as an abstract of these interesting details. Previous to the arrival of the Sovereign, the peers and peeresses, together with such others as have been fortunate enough to obtain tickets, take the places assigned to them in Westminster Abbey. The great officers of state, the archbishops and bishops, together with the peers who are appointed to carry the regalia, assemble in the Jerusalem Chamber adjoining the Deanery. There the Lord Chamberlain of the Royal Household delivers to the Lord High Constable the royal ensigns, and the latter functionary places them in the custody of the Lord Great Chamberlain of England, by whom they are delivered to the peers appointed to bear them at the expected ceremony. The Sovereign, with the princes and princesses of the blood royal, attended by the officers of the royal |